Rosita wasn’t too wild about her Bat Girl costume. The wings got on her nerves. And the hat — well, that was just too much. A good shake of her head, and she learned she could kind of tilt it to the side.

But when Betty Burrow, a participant in the adult day-care center at the Council on Aging, held her tight, the 8-year-old, 3-1/2-pound Chihuahua didn’t move a muscle. She just absorbed the love.

Ditto Chrissy, a 4-1/2 pound Maltese, who celebrates her 12th birthday on Oct. 25. When Helen Trader, another client in the adult care center, planted a wet kiss on Chrissy’s head, the canine, in her Wonder Woman costume for the day, just relaxed, and, like Rosita, enjoyed the moment.

Being adorable and accepting the outpouring of love and adoration is all in a day’s work for these two dogs and for Juan Pablo Montoya — yes, he’s named after the race car driver — a 5-pound, 5-year-old Chihuahua. The three, along with Charlie, a rescue dog from St. Augustine’s pet rescue organization SAFE who is in training, are the loves of Mary Siefken, a two-year resident of St. Augustine, who, with her husband Scotty and their canine brood moved to the oldest city from the Miami-Dade area.

The Siefken canines are registered therapy dogs, and Mary’s vehicle of choice is a baby stroller as she transported her brood around the COA one recent Friday — first to the memory enhancement class and then to the adult care center.

Charlie wasn’t part of the group that day, because he’s still in training, says Siefken. He doesn’t yet quite get the hang of the baby stroller.

Helped in healing

Mary’s therapy dog project began as therapy for Mary. In 1990 when Mary was teaching in the Miami-Dade school system, her son died of AIDS. A friend of her son wanted to do something as a volunteer with AIDS patients, and it was suggested that the young man “come see me,” says Mary.

In 1993 her therapy dog project was born, with visits as a volunteer for VITAS hospice.

Carla Marla was the first dog — “and I didn’t name her,” says Mary. “Another teacher told me about her.” The Maltese was being used for breeding, and her time was up for that purpose when she turned 7.

From volunteering for VITAS appearances, Mary’s canine brood expanded to visits to other facilities in the Miami-Dade area, including hospitals.

It’s been almost two years now that Mary and her costumed companions have been visiting the Council on Aging, says Paulette Kozlowski, manager of the Sunshine Center. The clients in both the memory enhancement class and the adult care center can’t wait to cuddle. “They just love them. It’s just a stress release” for the clients. “It’s soothing and comforting,” Kozlowski adds, and “sometimes” interacting with the animals brings back good memories for the COA clients.

The animals, says Mary, seem to enjoy it as much as the humans. Paco, an 18-year-old Chihuahua is now retired, “and he’s real sad when we leave him.”

The therapy dogs have costumes for all occasions. They’ll be making two visits to the COA during the Halloween season, says Mary. The first will be on their regular COA visiting day, Friday. But they’re also planning a visit on Halloween.

Mary makes some of the costumes and purchases others.

“My husband complains they have more clothes than he does,” says Mary.

Mary enjoys what she does. “I get so tired of people sitting at home feeling sorry for themselves.

“Volunteer,” she stresses. “Do something for someone else, and you’ll be surprised how much better you feel.”

“I have so much fun with this,” she says of her therapy dogs, and then admits with a loving smile: “They’re cute, but they’re little brats too!”

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